Heel-shaping machine



N. L. GULLIFORD.

HEEL SHAPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 0cr.15, 1921.

1948831020 Patented 0ct.24,1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Ufm". I JZMoZaeJ rd,

N. L. GULLIFORD.

HEEL SHAPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 15. 1921.

Patented Oct. 24, 1922 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Patented fl nt. i922.

YES

I wanna PATENT. @FFHGE.

HIGHOLAS L. GULLIFORD, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO GREGORY & READ COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

HEEL-SHAPING MACHI E.

Application filed October 15, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

B it known that I, NICHOLAS L; GULLI- Foal), a citizen of the United States, residing at L nn, in the county of Essex and E State of tain new and useful Improvements in Heel- Shaping Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for shap- 1o ing wooden heels for boots and shoes, and it has for its object to provide an improved machine of this class.

Many womens shoes are manufactured at the present time provided with what is known as a Louis heel, of whichthere are several different forms, namely, the French Louis heel, the Spanish baby Louis heel, the Cuban Louis heel, etc. It is common practice to makethese heels from blocks of 'wood, and several different operations are required to complete one of them, the last or final operation being the shaping of the shank portion of the breast of the heel to give to its outer or bottom side a curvature transversely of the heel conforming to the curvature of the shank of the shoe sole against which it abuts. Heretofore this final operation of shaping the shank por tion of the breast of the heel has been carried out by the workman holding the heel in his hands and presenting the outer side of the shank portion of the breast to a rapidly rotating wheel covered with sandpaper. This work requires the services of 35 an experienced and skilled operator, it is laborious and requires considerable time to complete the shaping operation. My invention provides a machine by means of which the final operation of shaping the shank portion of the breast of a wooden heel is performed expeditiously and accurately with uniformity in the product. The distinguishing feature of my improved machine consists in the combination witha rotatable 45 cutter head carrying one or more cutters, of

a Work-holder by means of which a heel is presented to said cutter head so that the breast portion of the shank of the heel is positioned within the circular path of .the

- cutter to cause the latter to travel across and give to the outer side of the shank portion of the breast a transversely curved inafter pointed out.

assachusetts, have invented cer- Serial No. 508,007.

ing machine constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view of a portion of the machine shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the machine shown in Figure 1. 4

Figures 4 and 5 are details of the cutter head hereinafter referred to. I

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a full Louis heel inverted.

Having reference to the drawings, 1 represents the frame of my improved heel shaping machine, and 2 a horizontal shaft journaled in bearings 3, 3, on said frame 1. This shaft has a pulley 4 fast thereon that is driven by a belt (not shown) at a high rate of speed. Fixed in position upon one end of shaft 2 is an internal cutter head 5,

whose outer face is formed with an annular cylindrical rim 6, having slots 7 within each of which is mounted a cutterblade 8, said cutter blade being fastened rigidly in place by means of a set screw 9. As shown in Figure 5, each cutter blade 8 is formed at its outer end with a cutting edge 10 that is curved to conform to the curve 11, Figure 6, of a Louis heel, said'curve extending from the free end or extremity of the shank portion 12 of said heel around to a point about midway the height of the breast. The cutting edge 10 of each cutter 8 extends from the outermost corner 13 of the blade around the outer end of the blade to the point indicated by the reference character 14. It

will thus be clear that the cutting blades 8 project outwardly beyond the face 15 of the cutter head, so that the latter is what might be termed an internal cutter head.

Mounted in ways 16 on frame 1 is a carriage 17 which may be either, locked in one fixed position by means of two screws 18 and 19, or, by setting said screws in retracted positions, may have capacity for sidewise movement on frame 1 to a limited extent, determined by the adjustment of said screws 18 and 19. hen the two screws 18 and 19 are set topermit of movement of carriage 17 in ways 16, the movement of the carriage is horizontal and in a path crosswise of the axis of shaft 2. The carriage 1-7 is formed upon its top side with four upwardly projecting posts 20 and 21 formed with apertures through them to receive two horizontally disposed and parallel rods 22 upon which is mounted a second carriage 23. The rods 22 are fastened rigidly to the carriage 17, at right angles to ways 16, and the carriage 23 slides on said rods, a stop collar2 1 fast on one of the rods 22 serving to limit the movement of the carriage 23 away from cutter head 5, and stop screws 25 on carriage 17 serving to limit the movement of carriage 23 toward said cutter head 5. The screws 25 are adjustable so that the extent of movement of carriage 23 toward cutter head 5 may be varied as required by the size and shape of the heel being operated upon. A nut 26 on each screw 25 holds the latter in adjusted position. 7

Hinged at 27 to the top side of carriage 23 is a \vorkholder 271 which is adjustable on said hinge by means of screws 28 and 29, the former extending loosely through a hole in carriage 23 and engaging a threaded aperture in the work-holder 271, and the latter extending through a threaded aperture in the work-holder and abutting the top side of carriage 23. Upon the top side of the work-. holder 271 is provided a work-holding clamp comprising a fixed jaw 30 and a movable jaw 31, the latter being part of a slide 31 provided upon its under side with a dovetail tongue occupying a groove in the top side of work-holder 271, so that said jaw 31 is locked to the work-holder 271, except that it has capacity for movement toward and from the fixedjaw 30. The movable jaw 31 is provided upon its top side with a post 32 to which is pivotally connected one end of a link'33 whose opposite end is pivotally connected with one arm of a bell crank lever 34.

The operation of the machine is as follows:

By means of the lever 34 the operator moves the jaw 31 back away from jaw 30 and then places the partially, made wooden heel in position upon work-holder 271 and between the two jaws He then, by downward pressure upon lever 34, clamps the heel firmly in position between the two jaws. When the heel, shown at H, in Figures 1 and 2, is thus placed in position, the shank portion 12 of its breast rests upon a relatively narrow shelf 35 so that if the carter head 5 said shelf 35 and shank riage 23 is now moved inwardly toward cutortion 12 are carried into position within t e circular series of cutting blades 8, which, during the operation of the machine, are rapidly revolved in the direction of the arrows, Figure 5, and said blades sweep across the outer surface of the shank portion 12 of the heel and part of the face portion of the breast of the heel, giving to the outer side of the shank portion a curvature substantially parallel with the concaved top h of the heel within which the heel portion of the sole of the shoe is seated when the heel 1 ,asaooc is'applied to the latter. The radius of the circle within which the inner portions 14, Figures 1 and 5, of the cutters 8 are disposed 1s radlus of the curve of the outer side of the shank portion of the largest sized heel that the cutter head is to operate upon. this construction and arrangement is employed it is possible to use the cutter head to shape said largest size or any size smaller than that largest size. When operating upon heels of the largest size for which the cutter head is constructed the two screws 18 and 19 are set up tight against the carriage 17 so as to lock the latter against lateral movement relatively to cutter head 5, so that the only relative movement possible between the heel being operated upon and the cutter head is that movement of carriage 23 which carries the heel into and out of the cutter head. When operating upon heels of smaller sizes the screws 18 and 19 are backed off, more or less, according to the size being operated upon, so as to permitof slight sidewise movement of carriage 17. It will thus be clear that under such conditions of adjustment .sidewise movement of carriage 17 in one direction. and then in the opposite, after the carriage 23'has been moved forward against stops 25, causes the cutter head to take off the side portions, or corners, of the shank portion of the heel so as to make the latter of the depreferably of the same length as the When sired thickness throughout its width. In

Figure 5 the arrows 36 indicate the path of the innermost cutting part 14: of the cutting edges of the cutters 8, and, as will be clean from said figure, which illustrates a heel of the largest size referred to above, sald cut: ters swing across the top of the shank portion of the breast of the heel in a path that is arallel with'the heel seat 72.

l Vhat- I claim is:

1. A machine of the character described, comprising a rotatable cutter head havmg a cutter mounted thereon, and a work-holder movable lengthwise of the axis of said cut- .ter head and adapted when moved toward said cutter head to position the shank portion of the breast of a heel between the path of said cutter and the axis of said head .to cause said cutter to give to the outer side of said cutter and the axis of said head to cause said cutter to give to the outer side of said shank portion a transversely convex shape.

3. A machine of the character described comprising a rotatable cutter head provided with a cutter projecting from one face thereof; a work-holder movable lengthwise of the axis of said cutter head toward and from said face and adapted when movedtoward said cutter head to position the shank portion of the breast of a heel between the path of said cutter and the axis of said head to cause said cutter to give to the outer side of said shank portion a transversely convex shape; means supporting said work-holder, with provision for movement crosswise of the axis of said cutter head; and means for holding said supporting means against movemnt crosswise of the axis of said cutter head, but with provision for adjustment of said holding means to permit of movement in the last mentioned direction.

4. A machine of the character described, comprising a rotatable cutter head provided with a cutter projecting from one face thereof; a work-holder movable lengthwise of the axis of said cutter head toward and from said face and adapted when moved toward said cutter head to posit-ion the shank portion of the breastof a heel between the path of said cutter and the axis of said head to cause said cutter to give to the outer side of said shank portion a transversely convex shape; a carriage on which said work-holder is movably mounted, said carriage being va carriage mounted on said frame with pro- VlSlOIl for movement crosswise of the axis of said shaft; a second carriage mounted upon the first mentioned carriage, with provision for movement lengthwise of the axis of said shaft toward and from the outer face of said cutter head; stops for limiting the movement of said second carriage in both directions; a heel holding clamp upon said second carriage comprising a fixed jaw and a movable jaw; and a hand lever fulcrumed on said second carriage and connected with said movable jaw, said heel holding clamp being adapted when moved toward said cutter head with said second carriage to position theshank portion of the breast of a heel between the path of said cutter and the axis of said head to cause said cutter to give to the outerside of said shank portion a transversely convex shape.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

NICHOLAS L. GULLIFORD. 

